So much to do

Dafydd Vaughan on 6 August 2008

Things have been a bit quiet on this blog over the last few months because I’ve spent pretty much every waking moment working, commuting or working some more. During office hours I’ve been working as a full time web developer for a web development company in Cardiff. I’ve spent the last month and a half getting reacquainted with their systems, policies and clients. I’ve also been involved in an overhaul of their content management system that is used on customer websites. It’s been exceptionally busy over the last 2 weeks as we build up to the release of this latest version.

When not sat at my desk writing thousands of lines of code, or commuting from Cardiff to Abergavenny (and vice versa), I’ve been busy working on some of my personal websites (a few of which will be launched / re-launched soon).

Today, I’m happy to be able to tick the first item on my to-do list – Daibach.co.uk Version 5. After a few months working on-and-off, I’ve finally put the finishing touches into place. This version of the site is a major upgrade from previous versions. Not only has it got a new design and content management system (it’s now running WordPress), but a fairly large restructuring of the content of the site has also taken place.

Although the latest design went live in June, some parts of the site (most notably photos) still operated from the old CMS. It’s taken until now to pull all these bits and pieces into WordPress, but finally, it’s done. Some older sections – such as photos and media – have been brought into the main blog, while music has moved into the profile pages. There’s also a new page outlining some of the changes to the site and the reasons behind them. Hopefully, the new structure will prove to be more flexible as my needs change. Of course, in typical designer fashion, I reserve the right to change my mind regularly!

So what’s next. Well, the next task is to look at the projects site. There is a lot of missing content, uninteresting materials and general issues with the site, so I’ll be taking a long hard look at it over the coming months and whipping it into shape. I’ll also be working on a new Govilon History site – with huge upgrades to the searchable census records, historical photos of the village and plenty of enhanced content. A few other projects are also in the pipeline – I’ll be posting about them when they are a bit closer to launch.